to work on projects the city needs done.

Not everybody who wants to help out has enough self-direction or information to do so. Provide a structured setting in which they can do useful work for the city, and you'll probably get more done than simply giving folks a way to have free time.

The slack needs to be taken up somewhere.

and well said.

Mightn't these "voluntary" positions normally be filled by union members probably at a higher wage scale?

And whether it's simply something the city simply otherwise won't do. Don't let volunteers do jobs that are already being done, but things that aren't even on the agenda now. If the work causes the city to have more money, it can raise the universal stipend as a result. Without private corporations in the mix, you might actually wind up with everyone in the city getting 'union wages'.

who advertise their services as well as their need for volunteers. The Dutch have a tradition of organising from the bottom up, not top-down. The city of Utrecht is likelier to get results by providing online and paper announcements for all the volunteer groups.

Most of the initiatives for the preservation of historic buoldings (Utrecht has a vast 18th century inner city, with some landmarks dating back to the Middle Ages) are from private citizens. Same with a lot of festivals, neighbourhood quality and security, and so on.

One of the Netherlands' already more livable cities, now made even more livable.

I've been to Europe but never that part.

Old architecture, cobblestone streets with cozy cafés and a canal through the middle, old bridges across it.

It's also a university town, so lots of young people and movement. But, like Boston or Cambridge, the popularity brought rents commensurate with its popularity, as well as thieves and pickpockets. It's a great place to live if you can afford it, or else can live with some compromises.

I'm there quite a bit now, though usually just for a couple of hours, and with very little time to enjoy the place.

We just placed a newbie there, and the rent for her tiny third floor walkup (like 400 sq. Ft.) apartment is 1250 Euros a month.

by global capitalism. When the few at the top control all the funds something has to give.

Maybe some good will come out of it if folks can actually have more time to do things they enjoy.

In my view this is only the tip of the iceberg however. If we've finally (thankfully) outgrown capitalism, it is time to figure out how to pool resources to save our planet.

what will become of them?

for long.

There the people are quite comfortable with one another, it seems.
The divide in upper/lower income is not what it is here, people rich, and poor all dress pretty much the same. Everyone rides bikes, and takes public transportation. I was there for a while last year, and hope to retire there.
There are places near Utrecht where the cost of living is much less too.

but we have to realize there is an enormous amount of wealth in the US - it's just sitting in too few hands.

I'm hoping that at some point (globally) we are able to do away with currency and just share resources as needed. A utopian view I know, but these types of experiments (basic income) are the stepping stones that can bring us closer to a world that is more concerned with people than things.

In their purest forms, these forms of governing would be the way. They never seem to work properly in real life, because of individual greed. First get rid of greed, then these forms may just work for EVERYONE.

or that certain methods encourage greed?

The best example of a non-fascist communist society was the Paris Commune. They survived a whole two months or so and then were shut down by outside forces. I don't know how you transition to socialism without a strong military, yet that strong military is going to encourage a more authoritarian approach (which is exactly how you don't want to govern). It really has been a catch-22 and something that socialists spend a lot of time talking about.

Didn't they do something like this in Copenhagen? I think that they call it Christiana or something.

and the kibbutzes of Israel of course. People have tried and will continue to do so. Hopefully at some point we'll find a way to make it work.

Pooling resources is part of what makes the planet need to be saved. Organized humanity is what it needs to be saved from.

A basic income wouldn't be outgrowing capitalism either. It would just be the result of it. More and more people just aren't all that needed. Since we can't let those of us who fall into that category just die, then give them money to spend to consume the mass amounts of products that are out there that they're not needed to make.

It's not outgrowing capitalism, and it's not going to save the planet. A basic income will be human beings not having to work to get paid(just like trust fund babies and the rest of the 1%), propped up by a foundation of machines that don't have to be paid or have to consume in order to work(sort of like the poor working class, just without the need for food).

Once they don't need workers anymore, just tax them and deliver a universal income to drive a service economy.

No conditions. Imagine.

and as more things become automated, and as more people try to string together a number of part-time jobs to try to make it, and people working longer because they can't afford to retire, and people who need two jobs to survive or want two incomes to have a standard of living that they wish to live, it's clear they just aren't going to be enough jobs for people who want to work. And at the same time, there are tons of volunteer organizations who desperately need help. You can work with people you can work with animals you can work with the environment, in libraries, outdoors, it's endless. And while they will always be a proportion of people who will sit around and watch Jerry Springer, I think many people will volunteer their time or create works of art, or become caregivers to family members, or in some other way contribute to the community. I can't wait to see what happens.

Not to Utrecht, but to Wageningen.
I met a woman here in the US, through one of my circles of friends a couple of years ago, and we really hit it off.
She spent part of last summer here, and I spent part of last fall there. She is back here for about 8 weeks.
When I went to the Netherlands, she took me all around the small country, and there was not one thing that I did not like about it.
People are tolerant for the most part. They speak directly, which though some may find rude, I do not. 90% of the people speak English. No malls, no big trucks or SUVs, which is a big plus for me.
Yes, I will have to learn Dutch, and though some have said that it is a difficult language, I did not find that so. It is somewhere between German and English. Though I do not have a good command of the language yet, I feel that I can master it, as my girlfriend is a teacher and is willing to teach me. She has great confidence that I can learn it.

Ok, back to the topic at hand.
I have been to Utrecht, and it is a wonderful city. It is the hub for the country's passenger rail system, so it is easy to get virtually anywhere from there. It is quite beautiful, with canals, cafes, and small shops all over the City Center. There is a great book store there called "de Rooie Rat" (the Red Rat) with nothing but books concerning all sorts of political matters. They even have an "antique book" section. Many of the books are in English, so language is not a barrier. (The Dutch are quite accepting of socialists like me too!)
Here's a link to the store: http://www.rooierat.nl

As far as this guaranteed income, it is about time that some city took this on. Even thought the Dutch "welfare" system provides more of a living income, as does unemployment, and minimum wage there is more of a livable wage than it is here, this is needed in an area where rents are generally high, and cost of goods can be more than in outlying areas.

In the past two years that I have been looking at things in the Netherlands, I can see that the people in power there care more about their people than the powerful folks in the US. I have to wait two years until I can retire, and hope that they will let me stay there, but I often wonder what I am still doing in the US.

OK, sorry for my blathering, I just thought that I might add my little experience to the conversation.
I have many more stories from my short stay in the Netherlands that I can share if people wish.

Tot Ziens!

To live in a country that cares about their people,
hope it all works out for you

1) They actually have a Socialist party.
2) There are many atheists. Something like 40% of the population
3) No big shopping malls. Small city center markets.
4) No big SUVs, or Pickup Trucks on the road.
5) People there are direct.
6) Bicycles.
7) Very good public transportation.

And every couple of days, I am reading about something interesting that they are doing there.

Oh, and I forgot the old windmills. My girlfriend's cousin is a millkeeper. I really want to learn more about these great old machines. The windmills were essential in the Industrial Revolution over there, before the Industrial Revolution!

my son has been telling me about this,it really is amazing
to me,and unbelievable that there are places totally opposite from this country.
I will never get to go,but my son is young,I hope he can one day.
Until then,we have the internet to explore all of this
Peace to you.

I do not know if this will work, but some thing has to be done to prepare for the time automation will allow 1% of the population to produce enough goods for the rest of the people. Of course, it would work better on a national level with strict immigration controls to prevent freeloaders from all over the globe from over load the system.

But still a good first step.

and the relevant family name traces back to... drum roll, please... Utrecht province!

It would be good to see these experiments done at State levels, though. When they are done at a low level, there tends to be financing problems or some claims that the "good people" are having to do all the work to support the "riff raff" - leading to fevered and strident attempts to ship the riff raff out of town. However, if such programs are implemented at a high level, there is less worry about who is being "too generous" and everyone can just be proud of doing the right thing and get on with being decent human beings again. And with all the money we save on extravagant poverty bureaucracies and investigation petty "welfare fraud", we could start adding all sorts of civic amenities for all: water fountains, benches, free shuttles, post office stamp subsidies, disability accommodations, crisis services, public art - vast amounts of funds would be freed up. Of course there is no such thing as utopia, but I think people would be surprised at the strides we could take if we hadn't sunk all out tax money into surveilling the poor.

of which it is capitol. Decisions made in the US on a State level, and the granting of Federal funds to the State level can not be assumed to be the same there as here. It is a very small and progressive country and in general they do all of this sort of thing better than we do. They are not the 'ship the riff raff out of town' types, at least not relative to the US or even some Euro countries, not historically and also not currently. I would say this is a very excellent place for such an experiment.

Two provinces in Canada are considering such ideas as well. Mulling them and discussing at least, and here's an article at a very annoying Canadian site!
http://www.insideottawavalley.com/news-story/5686153-basic-income-guarantee-an-economic-idea-whose-time-has-in-come-/

I'm a current recipient of welfare, and a strong advocate of mincome as a replacement for that ridiculous system.

In Berkeley, where I live, the City Council currently started making up laws to regulate the behavior of homeless people, overriding the will of the citizens, who had voted down such measures TWICE. When these measures were discussed in the local news venue, which for some reason condones a large population of obviously developer-funded astroturf, there were numerous comments in support of laws to make the City so "uncomfortable" for the homeless that they would move out. The other population was to use city funds to buy them a house in DETROIT and ship them there. I kid you not.

Security administration costs are much cheaper than means tested programs. And theirs is going to be even cheaper because every one gets it and it can just be sent out - no one needed to identify the recipients.

One of the truths of our welfare system is that the more regulations we put into place to see that there is not fraud the more it costs us.

Another positive is that those who cannot work will get help without all the paperwork.